14. Faith in American superiority extended to the sea
Set in the 1970s and 1980s, the distant future when first filmed in 1964, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea was based on a movie of the same name, first seen in 1961. The film reflected the edge held by the United States Navy in the deployment of nuclear submarines over their Soviet enemy. The fantastic submarine Seaview, though armed with torpedoes and nuclear missiles, nonetheless voyaged on peaceful missions for science and research. It also featured a flying submarine which carried passengers, an underwater laser beam, and wide windows in the bow from which to observe marine life. It and several other science fiction programs on television, and films in the theaters, reflected the faith Americans held in technology during the space race of the 1960s.
On television and in film, technological achievements set in the not-too-distant future included The Time Tunnel, Lost in Space, Fantastic Voyage, Land of the Giants, and the original Planet of the Apes. Of course, Star Trek first appeared in the 1960s, though it was set centuries in the future, rather than predicted events just a few decades away. By the end of the 1960s, unlimited faith in American technological superiority waned, replaced with dissension over civil rights and the war in Vietnam. Following the first lunar landing in 1969, public support for the space program waned, and a movie appeared, Marooned, displaying a failed space mission, which included the death of one astronaut, as well as a rescue of American astronauts through the intercession of the Soviets.